General Chemistry (4th Edition)

Manufacturer: Prentice Hall Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours List Price:$175.80 Our Price:$175.80 Authors: John W. Hill Ralph H Petrucci Terry W McCreary Scott S. Perry Description:

Reviews:

Better than expected
I bought this book used through Amazon and it arrived in about two weeks. It was surprised to find a cd in it unopened. The condition of the textbook is relatively new with the exception of a bend on the lower right corner of the textbook cover. However, it's hardly noticable especially when one buys something of that quality at less that 50% of the original price on the market.


Not clear enough
This book was used in my freshman college chem class. Everyone hated it, including our instructor. I found myself doing a lot of independent study this year, because my instructor was often incomprehensible, and unfortunately, this book most often was just not thorough enough when it came to explanations. Usually, the problems that were explained stepwise, were very simple, so harder problems were difficult to figure out by myself. I am a straight A student, and a pre-med bio major, so I don't consider myself completely stupid, but this book sometimes made me feel as though I was reading a foreign language. Maybe having a better instructor would have made a difference, but since I had to pretty much cover 75% of the course on my own, I had real difficulty understanding the text. On the plus side, the text does cover all the topics required in a college level chemistry course for biology majors.


An Excellent, Readable Chemistry Text
_General Chemistry (4th Edition)_ is the book that has taught me most of what I know about chemistry. I just finished my second semester of general chemistry, and I enjoyed reading the chapters very much. In total, I went through well over 700 pages of it with a fine-tooth comb, and I never once had difficulty with the material. Every problem in the book refers back to what you learn in the chapters. It rarely leaves you in the dark (it will tell you when something is beyond the scope of the text).

It is not a difficult read if your competency with the English language is satisfactory. Never once did the thought occur to me that the explanations are too difficult to understand. The authors are quite eloquent. Furthermore, there are a prodigious number of information boxes, tables, and graphs scattered throughout the book. There are also quite a few hints, chapter summaries, and lengthy introductions that explain the importance of the material that you are about to learn. Honestly, what more could you ask for?

The organization of the material itself is strange at times (like another reviewer noted), but overall it is well done. It would have been best if the organic chemistry concepts were saved until the very end of the book because they tend to distract from the less advanced concepts. In any case, they don't appear too often. The only other problem that I can think of involves the answers to the end-of-the-chapter problems. On several occasions, my professor and I found answers in the back of the book that were simply wrong. Evidently, the authors updated the text and missed a few.

However, in the final analysis, I fail to see how a rating less than five stars is appropriate. For the sheer size and quality of _General Chemistry_, the few flaws that it contain are negligible.


Plentiful of content, but with some unclear points
General chemistry by Hill, Petrucci, et al., is a book which is supposed being for students of university. Mainly, it covers completely good chemistry on the level of university. It has a good number of images, graphs and of some additional data, which make with this book a great source for the people who are accustomed with science. However, people who are not will find this kind of book of muddling and painful to include/understand, as the authors describe many theories and facts too superficially. For example, while trying to imply the formula for the kinetics of gases, the book does not explain how the formula is obtained: that the process could be explained in an easy way by using proportions. Moreover, because I am accustomed with really hard chemistry, I found the problems provocative steps as difficult as I envisaged, who am little disappointing. At all events, this book is right, and it would be good if any student read it with a professor or others tried out the assistance of the student. I give it that 4 holds the first role...


Trades readability for depth and rigor
This text is best suited for very good students who are motivated, comfortable reading English at a high level and mathematically adept: other students would be served much better by a different book. It contains far more material than could possibly be covered in a standard freshman general chemistry sequence, even with a good class. The authors assume that their audience is composed of the students I described initially (I am told it is the textbook at MIT), and leave it to the instructor to "break it down" for the students. Initially, I was not fond of this book, but I have slowly changed my mind, and I believe I have a better grasp of introductory chemistry thanks to the extra depth it goes to and the challenges it made me rise to.


Could be much better
It is because of the handbooks such as this one that the students lose the interest for chemistry, and, worse, of science in general. Yes, it is filled of a GOOD NUMBER of information, but there are many examples in which concepts differently relatively simple are twisted in something of incomprehensible. In certain cases, it seemed that the authors left their manner of explaining a matter in the most complicated possible way. Come on types, chemistry is rather complex because it is, thus rather than written to show of volume how much YOU know the matter, than would say you more friendly handbook of "étudiant" which as easily does not confirm the suspicians of the majority of the people as chemistry is as dry as saw dust.


Excellent Intro Text
This text was used in 1999-2000 at Oregon State University for the 100-level General Chem sequence for non-science majors. It is an excellent text with a (generally) friendly approach to introductory topics, and there are many nice photographs and discussion boxes containing info about practical chem applications. For some reason, the authors include a significant section on organic chemistry in chapter 2, far before they discuss bonding.... Other than that, this book is great. Better than four out of five other general chem texts.


Simple to Say, Detail to Explain!
This book is very up to date. Alos, it A can there the coloured images, which can attract the readers with the subsistence on reveiwing. It is not a marvellous book for the review of literature, but it is a suitable book for the new-student of chemistry. In what, much of examples are shown what can explain the theories effectively. Moreover, the index is arranged with many words, that can be conventient so that the readers discover what we seek.



More Products:

• Computer Networks and Internets, Fourth Edition
• Psychology (MyPsychLab Series)
• Beginning and Intermediate Algebra (Martin-Gay Hardback Series)
• Instructing Students Who Have Literacy Problems (4th Edition)
• Physics, Second Edition
• Language Arts: Patterns of Practice (6th Edition)
• Evolutionary Analysis, Third Edition
• Photography
• Algebra for College Students (5th Edition) (Blitzer Hardback Series)
• Digital Image Processing (3rd Edition)
• Patternmaking for Fashion Design and DVD Package
• Structured Computer Organization (5th Edition)
• Computers: Tools for an Information Age, Eighth Edition
• Discrete Mathematics with Graph Theory (3rd Edition)
• Data Structures and Algorithms in Java
• Digital & Analog Communication Systems (7th Edition)
• Applied Multivariate Statistical Analysis
• Politics in America, National Version (6th Edition)
• Traffic Engineering, Third Edition
• Digital & Analog Communication Systems (7th Edition)

--end of General Chemistry (4th Edition)